Stop Talking and Drive
I’ve written before about the dangers of talking on cell phones while driving, citing personal experiences with people who have hit my car or who have almost hit me while they were busy chatting it up. A friend of mine was killed last year because the driver of the other car was talking on a cell phone and not paying attention; that driver swerved into oncoming traffic, which caused my friend who was driving a full size pickup truck, to be ran off the road, plowing through a guardrail and hitting a tree head-on. He later did from his inuries.
I was very happy when I read yesterday that the National Safety Council is trying to put a stop to the cell-phone madness behind the wheel and is beginning to urge legislators in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to pass laws banning the use of cell phones while driving. Based on my own personal experience, I think this should have been done a long time ago.
Maybe it’s just me, but I believe even a hands-free device does nothing to alleviate the problem of distraction simply because when you’re on the phone (hand held or not), our minds are focused more on the call and less on the road. A study last year by Carnegie Mellon University revealed that I’m not the only one who thinks this way; their results noted that just listening to a cell phone while driving potentially reduces brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent (you can read the article over at Bio-Medicine.com by clicking here).
Last month a study from the University of Utah reaffirmed that hands-free phones are as distracting as handheld models and a study from the Harvard Center of Risk Analysis estimates that cell phone use while driving contributes to 6 percent of crashes, which equates to 636,000 crashes, 330,000 injuries, 12,000 serious injuries and 2,600 deaths each year. The study also put the annual financial toll of cell phone-related crashes at $43 billion. So far, only 29 states include a category for cell phone/electronic equipment distraction on crash investigation forms.
Wyoming, Wisconsin, Vermont and South Carolina are among the states which have no cell phone driving laws at all, while Alaska and New Jersey are among the states which ban text messaging while driving. You can find out which cell phone driving laws (if any) are applicable in your state by clicking here to visit the Governors Highway Safety Association website.
Okay Cars for Girls readers – can you get behind a law which prohibits cell phone use and text messaging while behind the wheel? Does your state already enforce any cell phone driving laws and if so, what do you think of those laws?
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I am agree, but disagree, most people do not make driving a priority while on the phone. I was driving onve on while on the phone and a child ran out after a basketball, I was driving a suburban at the time, but since I have always made driving priority number one, I was able to stop in time. A local police officer was driving in the opposite direction and he stopped the kid to have a talk with him.
Unfortunately not everyone makes driving a priority so it would be best for everyone to ban cell phones while driving especially text messangers.
I agree we really should stop driving and chatting on our mobiles but to be honest I don’t think that this will happen, we are all guilty of doing it even me, I am very observant to what is happening around me but there have been times that I have been on my phone and spoken the whole way of my drive that I have even said to myself wow didn’t even notice that I had already driven that far. I think all cars should come standed with bluetooth in the car so that once in the car it is activated this would create less accidents in the long run and n one would have the excuse they can’t afford the product.
I admit that I do use the phone while I’m driving sometimes. Although, I still obey traffic laws and use my turn signals (unlike the guy I saw today). I definitely don’t text while driving…I have a hard enough time texting as it is. However, I do think this law would be great, but I wonder if it would be next to impossible to enforce it?